Badawi al-Jabal

Badawi al-Jabal بدوي الجبل
Badawi al-Jabal, 1954
Born	Muhammad Sulayman al-Ahmad 1903- Difa, Syria
Died	August 19, 1981 Syria
Pen name	Badawi al-Jabal
Occupation	Poet, writer

Muhammad Sulayman al-Ahmad (1903– August 19, 1981) (Arabic: محمد سليمان الأحمد‎‎), better known by his pen name Badawi al-Jabal (Arabic: بدوي الجبل‎‎), was a Syrian poet known for his work in the neo-classical Arabic form. According to anthologist Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Badawi was "one of the greatest poets of the old school".

Badawi was born in 1903 to an Alawite family in the village of Difa, near al-Haffa, in the Latakia District. His father, Sheikh Sulayman al-Ahmad, was a prominent Alawite imam from the Kalbiyya tribal confederation, and also served in the Damascus-based Arab Academy of Language in 1919. Badawi developed an early understanding of the Qur'an and classic Arabic poems from his father.

Following the French occupation of Syria in the aftermath of World War I, Badawi joined the Al-Ali Revolt, which centered in the Syrian coastal mountain areas. He fought alongside Saleh al-Ali's men, committing acts of sabotage against French forces. He also served as an intermediary between al-Ali and the King of Syria, Faisal I. Badawi was incarcerated by the French Mandatory authorities for many months in 1920–21 for his involvement in Syrian resistance activities, but was ultimately released because of his young age.

Later, he participated in the 1925 Great Syrian Revolt, personally heading parties of rebels in nighttime raids on French Military checkpoints. Consequently, the French put a bounty on him and he left Syria for Iraq. There, he worked as a teacher of Arabic literature in a Baghdad high school. In 1936, he made his way back to Syria where he studied law in the University of Damascus for a short time before being arrested by the authorities for his earlier anti-French activities. After serving one year of incarceration he once again moved to Baghdad to resume his teaching career. He became the professor of Arabic at the University of Baghdad. During his time in Iraq, he reportedly supported Rashid Ali's attempts to rid Iraq of British influence in 1941.